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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30051495">Under Your Covers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/flailinginlove/pseuds/flailinginlove'>flailinginlove</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, Meet-Cute, Modern AU, books on a train</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:54:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,513</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30051495</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/flailinginlove/pseuds/flailinginlove</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kakashi wants to know what the cute brunet he sees every morning is reading.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>328</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>KakaIru 2019 Mini Bingo!</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Under Your Covers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is just a short, fluffy meet-cute that got very thoroughly lost on the road of life and is over a year late. It's also my second mini-bingo fic. I'll hopefully be doing a few more before the year is out.</p>
<p>
  
</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kakashi's walk turned brisk as he stepped onto the platform, the train just pulling in. He didn't need to run; he'd make it. He could try to tell himself he wouldn't run even if he needed to, but there was no point in obvious lies when his employees couldn’t hear him.</p>
<p>As the doors started to close, he slid onto the train. The obnoxiously early hour kept the car from being packed. No elbows poked his side, no bags dug into his back. He wedged himself into the corner by the door, leaning against the row of seats next to him, and settled in for another morning commute.</p>
<p>The garish cover of the book he took out caused a few of the businessmen near him to pull back, apparently not wanting to stand next to someone reading smut in public. Kakashi didn't mind. Their poor taste in literature meant more personal space for him.</p>
<p>Why he needed to go in at this godforsaken hour, he would never know. Something about responsibility and setting a good example and doing his damn job. Or whatever Tsunade had been going on about a few months ago, like his division couldn't run itself. They could manage on their own for a few hours. If they weren't capable of that much, he wouldn't have hired them.</p>
<p>But professional responsibilities weren't the only reason he tried for this particular car on this train every morning.</p>
<p>He glanced around and didn't let himself grin when he saw the person he was looking for. Not that anyone could tell with his mask firmly in place. Instead, he angled himself so he could peer over his book at the cute, pony-tailed brunet sitting half a car away, as he had every workday for the last seven weeks. Two businessmen and a schoolgirl obstructed his view, but he caught glimpses between their suits and uniform as they swayed with the motion of the train.</p>
<p>Kakashi was secure enough that he could admit eyeing up the same familiar stranger every morning for the better part of two months was a little on the creepy side. Especially when it was unlikely said stranger would be able to pick Kakashi out of a crowd. Creepier still was everything he'd gleaned from their daily twenty minutes of commuting in the same general direction.</p>
<p>The man always had a seat, which made Kakashi suspect he got on at the terminal station. The few times he didn't, it'd been clear he'd given his up to someone else. When Kakashi got on, seats were prime real estate.</p>
<p>He also got off before Kakashi did. Something that Kakashi believed would be appropriate no matter what situation they were in.</p>
<p>The two or three mornings a week that found the man grading in his seat, red pen scribbling notes across stacks of papers, pointed to him being a teacher, with the couple of times he'd had bulky bags of art and science supplies lending credence to the theory. Kakashi couldn't imagine many jobs required red pens <i>and</i> paper mache solar systems.</p>
<p>On the days he wasn't grading, he had a string of books that said he read as much as Kakashi did. The books always had protective covers on them, the plain brown paper never advertising what he was reading, but they varied in size and thickness enough to make it obvious he didn't have the same book more than a few days in a row.</p>
<p>Reading days were Kakashi's favorites. Sure, the horrified expressions the man made while grading were amusing, but they didn't compare to the wide range of emotions that played on his face as he read. Soft smiles lit up his eyes, tears welled up and were held back, laughter threatened to disturb the morning silence, and then there were the times he was so engrossed in his book, he almost missed his stop. It made Kakashi curious to know what was beneath the man's book covers.</p>
<p>So, yes, admittedly creepy, but Kakashi needed entertainment on his commute, and the guy was easy on the eyes.</p>
<p>Today was a reading day, much to Kakashi's delight.</p>
<p>The man's book wasn't particularly thick, and it looked like he'd started it that morning. He held it closer to his chest than any of his other books, cracked open in a way that had to be making it difficult to read.</p>
<p>A warm, pink glow built steadily on his cheeks, and damn if it wasn't the cutest thing Kakashi had ever seen.</p>
<p>Kakashi didn't get much of his own book read, too curious about what the man was reading. It had to be something good if it inspired a blush like that.</p>
<p>By the time the train rolled into the man's station, he'd turned a rather spectacular shade of red. He jerked in surprise at the station name announcement and got to his feet, tucking the book into his bag.</p>
<p>As he hurried to get off the train, he glanced in Kakashi's direction, their eyes meeting for one brief moment. Kakashi could swear the man's blush deepened before he looked away.</p>
<p>Kakashi's heart refused to beat normally until he reached his own stop fifteen minutes later.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>~*~*~</p>
</div>The train was delayed. Sure, it was only by a few minutes, but if Kakashi had to be on time, his train should have to be punctual as well.<p>He stood on the platform, holding back a sigh and waiting for the train to pull in. Today was not going to be his day.</p>
<p>Three minutes later, the train creaked to a stop in front of him. </p>
<p>Kakashi stared through the doors for the eternity it took them to open, not believing his eyes. He had to be imagining this. The early hour had officially driven him insane.</p>
<p>Okay, <i>more</i> insane.</p>
<p>He blinked, but the vision he was seeing didn't change.</p>
<p>A seat next to the cute brunet was free.</p>
<p>Kakashi swallowed.</p>
<p>Maybe it was his day after all.</p>
<p>The doors opened, and Kakashi stepped inside. Heart pounding in his chest, he moved towards the seat as he tried to project all the hipness one of his more boisterous colleagues regularly accused him of.</p>
<p>It didn't work, if the brunet's little jump as Kakashi sat was any indication.</p>
<p>At least Kakashi was presentable this morning. The first time he'd seen the other man on the train, Kakashi had been a rumpled mess. He’d barely been awake, and to this day, he still thought he might have been wearing his pajamas under his suit jacket. By the end of the week, he actually checked that he wasn't a complete wreck before he left his house. He didn’t do anything crazy like brush his hair, but all his buttons were done up correctly and he had on appropriate pants. Kurenai had even asked what the occasion was when he'd shown up with a necktie in a loose approximation of a proper knot around his neck.</p>
<p>Kakashi didn't bother attempting to strike up a conversation. There was no way that wouldn't end awkwardly. This was already a huge step in their relationship, and Kakashi was happy with that. He settled in for twenty minutes of sitting next to his favorite familiar stranger.</p>
<p>It was another reading day. Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi tried to get a glimpse of what the man was reading, but he was still holding it close to his chest. Whatever the book was, he'd read three-quarters of it already.</p>
<p>The train jostled them as it changed tracks, and the man's book tipped towards Kakashi for a fraction of a second.</p>
<p>That was enough. He'd know those words anywhere.</p>
<p>"You're reading <i>Paradise</i>?" he asked before he could stop himself.</p>
<p>The man turned bright red. His eyes flickered towards Kakashi then quickly away. "Well, you always seem so interested in it," he said. "I was curious."</p>
<p>It took a moment for that to sink in. Not only had the guy noticed him, he was also reading the best book in the world because of him.</p>
<p>Kakashi had to ask the most important question he would ever ask in his life. "Do you like it?"</p>
<p>"It's very... explicit," the man said, "but the plot is surprisingly good. I couldn't stop reading it last night. I'm going to need to read it again to appreciate all the foreshadowing the author has woven in."</p>
<p>Kakashi's heart skipped a beat. "Wait until you get to the second book. There's this scene where–"</p>
<p>The man held up a hand in front of him. "No spoilers!"</p>
<p>"Oh, right," Kakashi said. "Sorry."</p>
<p>"But maybe," the man said, biting his lip before continuing. "After I finish?"</p>
<p>Kakashi nodded. "After you finish." </p>
<p>If he put a hint of insinuation into that, the other man didn't seem to mind.</p>
<p>They swapped names, contact info, then small talk until they reached Iruka's station. He nearly missed his stop, but this time it wasn't entirely because of his book.</p>
<p>Kakashi grinned as the train pulled out of the station. Maybe mornings weren't so bad after all.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>~*~*~</p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it! ♥</p>
<p>I set up a mailing list for anyone who wants info on the fics I'm currently writing. I try to include previews and extras every month. Next month I'll probably be including a scene from the next mini-bingo fic I'm working on (one on the top row). If you're interested, you can sign up <a href="https://mailchi.mp/862401d10594/flailinginloves-mailing-list">here</a>. :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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